An injured person is taken to an ambulance following an earlier exchange of fire between armed Palestinians and Israeli forces near a checkpoint in northern Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (AFP pic)HEBRON: Palestinian militants wounded five Israelis in an attack on Friday before being killed in a prolonged shootout with soldiers, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order a lockdown in the occupied West Bank days before Israeli elections.
Netanyahu, facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday's election, said that Israeli troops prevented what could have been a major attack, with the two assailants allegedly carrying a large quantity of ammunition in their vehicle.
An AFP journalist who witnessed the gun battle saw two Palestinian men armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanging fire with Israeli forces at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Hebron.
